Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2019
I think that we would all have wanted more time for the Electoral Commission to give its agreement to the bill. That is one example, and it is very sad that that has not occurred.
I would ask why record-breaking speed was used for a bill that no one wants and what devolved matter is so pressing that it requires a referendum. However, such questions would, of course, be rhetorical, because we all know the answer. The bill is yet another fig leaf for the SNP’s eternal quest to break up the United Kingdom, and that will remain an eternal quest. Scotland said no in 2014 and nothing—I repeat, nothing—has changed since then to give cause for another such question. Only its interpretation of the numbers gives the SNP the belief that it has a mandate—an interpretation that is matched only by its education failings in maths.
I therefore have one question for the cabinet secretary, which concerns the method for declaring the winner of any referendum. My understanding is that referendums are decided on the total number of votes cast across the whole of the electoral region. Last week, the SNP won the most seats in Scotland due to the vagaries of the first-past-the-post system. However, it claims majority support, despite 55 per cent of Scotland voting against the SNP and its wish for separation. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that the result of a future referendum in Scotland will be decided on the majority of voters and not the 32 counting areas?
In other parts of the bill, we have supported proposed changes, but they have not gone far enough. The role of the Electoral Commission remains insufficiently strong and the manner in which the cabinet secretary has tried to hijack so many parts of the process has more in common with third-world dictatorships than with the transparent democracy of the United Kingdom. Of course, the SNP is pushing the bill through today only because it told its nationalist extremists that it would get the bill through Parliament by the end of the year. That is simply not good enough, and Scotland deserves better. I am proud to say that I will not be supporting the bill today and I know that my constituents will thank me for it.
We must start prioritising what is important: education, the NHS, police, nurses, climate change, welfare, local government, our communities, jobs and the economy—take your pick. We are here today talking about the constitution only because the SNP is failing on everything else. We must hope that the new year brings the change that Scotland wants.
16:08